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Overview

#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER!

Justice Anthony Kennedy slipped out of the Supreme Court building on June 27, 2018, and traveled incognito to the White House to inform President Donald Trump that he was retiring, setting in motion a political process that his successor, Brett Kavanaugh, would denounce three months later as a “national disgrace” and a “circus.”

Justice on Trial, the definitive insider’s account of Kavanaugh’s appointment to the Supreme Court, is based on extraordinary access to more than one hundred key figures—including the president, justices, and senators—in that ferocious political drama.

The Trump presidency opened with the appointment of Neil Gorsuch to succeed the late Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court. But the following year, when Trump drew from the same list of candidates for his nomination of Brett Kavanaugh, the justice being replaced was the swing vote on abortion, and all hell broke loose.

The judicial confirmation process, on the point of breakdown for thirty years, now proved utterly dysfunctional. Unverified accusations of sexual assault became weapons in a ruthless campaign of personal destruction, culminating in the melodramatic hearings in which Kavanaugh’s impassioned defense resuscitated a nomination that seemed beyond saving.

The Supreme Court has become the arbiter of our nation’s most vexing and divisive disputes. With the stakes of each vacancy incalculably high, the incentive to destroy a nominee is nearly irresistible. The next time a nomination promises to change the balance of the Court, Hemingway and Severino warn, the confirmation fight will be even uglier than Kavanaugh’s.

A good person might accept that nomination in the naïve belief that what happened to Kavanaugh won’t happen to him because he is a good person. But it can happen, it does happen, and it just happened. The question is whether America will let it happen again.

Product Details

About the Author

MOLLIE HEMINGWAY, a senior editor at The Federalist and a contributor to Fox News, is one of the country’s most thoughtful, prescient, and respected political commentators.

CARRIE SEVERINO is chief counsel and policy director of the Judicial Crisis Network. A graduate of Harvard Law School, she clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 The Primary 1

Chapter 2 The List 27

Chapter 3 Complicit in Evil 63

Chapter 4 Mootings, Meetings, and Mobs 85

Chapter 5 All Hell Breaks Loose 117

Chapter 6 Delay, Delay, Delay 135

Chapter 7 Too Big To Fail 159

Chapter 8 Fear of Flying 193

Chapter 9 Miracle 217

Chapter 10 The Anteroom Where It Happened 237

Chapter 11 Mrs. Collins Goes to Washington 261

Chapter 12 Legitimacy 283

Note to readers 307

Acknowledgments 309

Notes 317

Index 367

About the Authors 376

Editorial Reviews

#1 Publisher’s Weekly, Hardcover Nonfiction

#1 Amazon Best-Sellers, Nonfiction

#1 WSJ Nonfiction eBooks

#2 WSJ Nonfiction combined print and ebooks

#2 Wall Street Journal Best-Sellers, Hardcover Nonfiction

#2 Barnes and Noble, Hardcover Nonfiction

#2 Apple Books, Nonfiction

#3 USA Today, Overall Books

From the Publisher

It is to be hoped that this fine, even-handed book will help to bring an end to the political savagery that has characterized all too many Supreme Court confirmation hearings.

MARY ANN GLENDON

Justice on Trial reads like a John Grisham novel, filled with intrigue and well-paced plot development that’s a roller-coaster ride even if we know how it ends. This is destined to become the definitive account of a crucial episode in American life.

ILYA SHAPIRO

A riveting inside look at the nasty politics of character assassination that have plagued the confirmation process going back to my father, Robert H. Bork.

ROBERT H. BORK JR.

Even if you closely followed the confirmation hearings, you will learn a lot from this real-life legal thriller.

JOSH BLACKMAN

An amazingly well-sourced, behind-the-scenes chronicle of a Supreme Court nomination process that became a national circus. Everyone concerned with how broken the judicial confirmation process has become needs to read this riveting blow-by-blow account.

RANDY E. BARNETT

The authors’ deep knowledge of the players and the constitutional stakes shines throughout the book and makes for a thrilling and revealing read.

EDWIN MEESE III

"[A] brand new smash book with enormous amounts of actual real reporting, interviews, behind-the-scenes fact-digging and analysis... You won’t get it anywhere else unless you get this book.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

Justice on Trial: The Kavanaugh Confirmation and the Future of the Supreme Court 4.7 out of 5based on
0 ratings.
13 reviews.

Anonymous

5 months ago

required reading. America as we know it is on the brink of extinction.

Anonymous

5 months ago

Unbiased and in depth account of Kavanaugh hearing. A must read for anyone on the left, right or straight down the middle!

Anonymous

4 months ago

...taken us behind the scenes, and showed us the details of the disgusting democrat display we had forced upon us. As TV spectators, we knew their motivations, but didn't always realize how low they were really stooping. Very thorough....an excellent read.

Anonymous

4 months ago

Exceptionally informanitive

bulbrandt

5 months ago

Compelling. Clear and concise, the authors did their homework. This is not like some books you have to put away because they make you feel tawdry by just reading. There are no long drawn out sentences and paragraphs trying to make a big deal out of a small tidbit. I had a hard time putting it down and started coming up with excuses as to why I couldn't attend a family birthday celebration. I went to the birthday dinner but rushed home and sat up to finish the book last night. An important and "read worthy" book. Excellent!

vjcutter

3 days ago

Very well researched and written.

Anonymous

9 days ago

Anonymous

22 days ago

The misandry in the United States is despicable. While the MeToo movement as allowed the radical feminazis to crawl out of the woodwork and the radical left has plunged over the cliff of decency and reason like a bunch of crazed lemmings, the very fact that anyone listens to goons like Feinstein, Pelosi et al in their vile and vulgar to destroy Justice Kavanaugh is beyond comprehension. This is a book for intelligent people to read.

Anonymous

27 days ago

Excellent account of the many directions of the Kavanaugh confirmation battle. For the average American that did not have the time to try and keep up as it was happening, this book provides a great in depth look to help us understand the depths to which our political process has sunk.

Anonymous

3 months ago

An outstanding book that describes the vicious smear of a good, decent man. The actions of Democratic members and the mainstream media were truly unconscionable. This book deserves to be in the running for a Pulitzer Prize. One is left asking after reading it: what of those victims who like Kavanaugh are falsely accused of crimes, but lack his resources and eloquence? Where will people without these advantages find justice in an America that is abandoning due process and other fundamental rights?

Anonymous

4 months ago

Thank you to these 2 authors for this book. A great learning experience despite watching the hearings.

JerseyBoy

4 months ago

Excellent review and analysis of the events before, during and after the Kavanaugh hearings. The machinations used to try and destroy this man's reputation and livelihood in the pursuit of political gain is sobering and disgusting. I highly recommend this book.

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